With two of the eight starters in the $50,000 Murphys Turf and Landscaping BM78 over 2100m scratched overnight, there was only real support for two of the six left at the barrier.
And they turned out to be the horses not even the camera could split.
With such a small field the running was trouble-free until around the 200m mark in the home straight when four of the six were in a line across the track.
In the shadow of the post Wolfe Tone conceded a step and Another Eclipse had not been able to hang on but He Ekscels and Sweet Mischief were having a ding-dong dual with a bob of the head certain to sort them out as they hit the line.
Until, incredibly, they bobbed at the same time and the judge could not split them.
Speaking after the race He Ekscels trainer Richard Laming was certain his horse had been caught on the line and he was delighted to be wrong.
“It was a tough run and he flogged it out, and the result is just fine and I am happy to take it,” he added.
“It was a good effort and he got away fine with good sections and 2100m on a soft track was a good effort.”
At its previous start the horse had trouble in the running, getting his tongue over the bit and affecting so we used a tongue tie this start and that rectified that.”
Sweet Mischief’s jockey Jye McNeil said on the line he knew it was going to be as really close finish – just not that close.
“I thought leading up to it I had my head in front so I was hoping for the best,” McNeil said.
“But if you can’t win it on your own I’ll take the dead heat,” he grinned.
“Her second up in this prep and stepping up in distance – plus she never really handled the soft track well at any stage – I am pretty sure if we had run on a firm track she would have won it well and on her own.”
Sweet Mischief was coming back from a 21-week spell and after winning a Cranbourne trial on a heavy eight track had finished second of six on the synthetic surface at Ballarat on June 2.
Yesterday she was in another field of six – in what technically was still a Ballarat meeting – and went half a step further with a shared win (her fourth in 19 races).
Look out for her next start.